Collective intelligence is based on the concept of “swarm logic” where the resolutions and decisions made by individuals are produced from their relationships with others without knowing the outcome or consequences of their actions on a global scale.
Steve Johnson in his book “Emergence” explained through the analysis of an ant colony, the importance of the actions of individuals and their effects at different scales through various examples: he shows how ants seeking the shortest route to stock food, how to prioritise resources to food access taking into account the distance and the easiest access, or how to change their tasks according to the external conditions of their individual activities.
Thus, a community in which none of the ants is responsible for the overall operation of the colony, there is an amazing connection to the system and organisation, in both levels: micro and macro.
One of the key terms to understand the “swarm logic” is “local” because everything starts from the individual to the local activity, but is a local scale which can not take place without the participation of others or the interaction with others. How incredible and amazing it is that none of them have the slightest idea of the effect generated by their actions on the macro scale, since, as the author says, these ants have not the general overview; the bird-eye view concept. These individuals pay attention to their neighbours rather than wait for orders from above which generates an Emergent Behaviour.